


team work makes the dream work

by Silverdancer



Category: Mamamoo
Genre: Alternate Universe, Gen, dog pageants, other idols make an appeareance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-08
Updated: 2020-11-08
Packaged: 2021-03-09 00:02:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,428
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27445330
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Silverdancer/pseuds/Silverdancer
Summary: "One would think that in a place so full of cute puppies, people would be happier."
Kudos: 8
Collections: 2020 - Girls' Halloween





	team work makes the dream work

**Author's Note:**

> Answering to the prompt: the competitive world of dog pageants.

“One would think that in a place so full of cute puppies, people would be happier,” Byulyi mutters as she avoids being stepped on by yet another angry contestant. 

“Aw I wish I could be there with you,” Yongsun laments over the phone, the airport sounds muffled on her end. “Did you get to register at least?”

Byulyi looks around, searching for a space where she can talk without putting her body in danger. “Not yet. I am not even sure I got in through the right entrance or even the right building and I have been here for at least half an hour,” she complains, even if she lowers her voice for it. The last thing she needs is someone hearing her and picking a fight.

“Just sit beside Haengwoon. With your puppy eyes combined, I am sure someone-,” Yongsun says, but she must hear an announcement for her flight because she cuts off mid-sentence. The last thing Byulyi hears is Yongsun wishing her good luck.

Or so she hopes, because what she hears includes the word _accident_ somewhere and Byulyi’s sure she doesn’t want to know. 

Daebak looks up at her, and tilts his head to the side. It almost feels like he understands.

*

After another ten minutes of people rushing across her feet and not having enough hands to handle all three of her dogs, she finally makes her way to heaven.

The food court extends across the entire room, with food trucks lining every wall surface available around. It’s not too close to lunch either, which means that she can _finally_ have a place to sit, and regroup.

Which it is, of course, when Byulyi really realizes where she has gotten herself into. 

There is a couple of guys on the table beside her, and instead of eating, they have a whole station set on top of the table, complete with a miniature wardrobe full of costumes. Designer, too, if the designer logo in some of those tiny clothes is a real one. 

Byulyi looks at herself, and the discreet costume she had brought with her — a discreet detective outfit that matched her dogs’ detective hats down to the pattern. Hyejin swore it was absolutely adorable and that it was going to make an impression. They do look adorable, that much is true, but make an impression? Byulyi is starting to doubt it.

Looking around everyone seems to be closer to the couple’s level than hers. She can spot someone near the wall flat ironing their dog’s hair, and someone a little on the far left attaching colorful extensions matching the clothes that are hanging behind them. 

Last she checked this was an ability contest, but maybe she ended up on the wrong section of the building?

“Is this way too much or is it just me?” 

Byulyi turns around, looking for the person voicing her own thoughts. And there she stands, a girl on her early twenties, holding her dog close to her as if she can protect him from the craziness around them. 

Byulyi has to agree that if she hadn’t brought the three of them she might have been doing the same thing.

“That’s one way to put it,” she replies in the end, earning herself a smile and shoulders releasing some of the tension holding her tight.

Byulyi is considering if it is worth asking them about the registration booth, which she has yet to find, when the girl speaks again, a little hesitant.

“I understand if you’re saving the space for someone else or you just don’t want to share, but since this is so full, would you mind if we sat with you?” 

Byulyi barely has time to think about it before she’s nodding, welcoming into her table.

*

The girl’s name is Heejin and very much like Byulyi, it’s her first time around. Her dog, Tori, sits peacefully around hers after introducing them.

There’s a lull in their conversation, the room’s noise filling out the silence between them, when Byulyi remembers. 

“Hey, do you happen to know where the registration booth is?” 

The question surprises Heejin, Byulyi can see it in the shifty look she gets right after she makes it. 

“Actually, my, uh, friend is looking for it” Heejin says. There’s a weird pause there, Byulyi notices, but keeps quiet. Heejin continues as if nothing weird happened. “Tori was starting to get restless from walking around so Jiwoo offered herself to try and find it. We said will meet here when she does.” 

Byulyi sighs, although she feels better not being the one completely lost. 

“Man, that’s smart,” Byulyi laments. ”None of my friends were able to come, so I was hoping to rest a bit myself and then venture again to try and find it.” 

“One would think that registration is be the easy part,” Heejin says, sarcasm coloring her tone a bit. Byulyi can’t help the little laugh that bubbles from her. 

“I wouldn’t be surprised if some of these people hid all the signs just so less people participates and the chance to win is higher,” Byulyi says, and she thinks that she is only half joking.

People who puts make up on their dogs is perfectly capable of tampering with registration, Byulyi is sure.

Lost in her musings, she doesn’t notice Heejin’s lack of reply until someone touches her shoulder slightly.

Of all the people she thought she’d find, one of the guys on their neighbor table was pretty much not on the list, which is why she jumps on her seat the moment she turns around. 

“Were you by any chance speaking of registration?” he says, an amused glint in his eyes at Byulyi’s reaction. “I didn’t mean to eavesdrop, I promise,” he barrels on before either Heejin nor Byulyi have time to say anything, “but Butt over there threw his toy and rolled up to here and-.”

He could probably keep going if they kept him, but both Byulyi and Heejin react at the same time, no teven looking at each other.

“Yes!” is what Heejin exclaims.

“Do you know where it is?” is what Bulyi does.

The guy doesn’t seem to mind the interruption at all, his smile only getting wider at their reaction.

“I sure do,” he says before leaning conspiratorially towards the table, the smile on his face getting wider as he speaks, “but don’t let _one of these people_ know that I have revealed the secret location.” 

Byulyi feels that, were this another life, they could really be good friends, this guy and her. She sees his eyes shining in the same amused way that Byulyi feels.

“C’mon, scoot over,” he says. He reaches for a notebook that lays open on his table and ignores the weird looks from his friend when he does. When he’s back he sits by Byulyi’s side, and leans over, drawing Heejin and Byulyi in, as if letting them in on a secret. “During our first year, Wonshikkie here got so lost he almost didn’t make it to the actual competition.” 

“I can hear you, you know,” the guy, Wonshik, says. He sounds annoyed, but when Byulyi looks at him, he’s the poster picture of adoration. 

The guy sitting beside Byulyi winks at him as a reply as he starts sketching a rough floor plan for instructions.

The look on Heejin’s face when she looks at her over the notebook, confusion and laughter about to spill, looks exactly how Byulyi feels right at that moment. 

Even if the competition is a disaster, Byulyi can’t find herself regretting coming to this.

*

“I am so sad I could not make it in the end,” Yong complains, whine drawing her words over the phone.

They had been on the phone from the moment Byulyi started making her way home, catching up with everything that happened during the event. The relevant parts anyway, like how cute her babies were with Tori or how cute it was that Heejin and her _friend_ acted as if they hadn’t seen each other in years when they finally reunited.

“It’s okay,” Byulyi reassures her as she lets herself fall onto the couch. “Getting stuck at an airport is an adventure on itself.” 

“Don’t get me started,” Yong grumbles, making Byulyi smile picturing her. “Tell me more about your day,” she requests. And then, before Byulyi can even think of what, “actually, how did the actual competition go?” 

Byulyi closes her eyes and smiles, counting down from five for optimal delivery. “Ah, didn’t I say?”

“Say what?” 

“We got the gold.”

**Author's Note:**

> ♥
> 
> Idol cameos (aside from Mamamoo members):  
> \- Heejin from Loona (and her puppy)  
> \- Jiwoo/Chuu from Loona (mentioned only)  
> \- Jaehwan/Ken from VIXX  
> \- Wonshik/Ravi from VIXX (and his puppy)


End file.
